Classroom in Crisis

From the recent issue of California Educator:

“My pacing guide doesn’t fit these students, and it’s almost inhumane to do it this way,” says the El Monte Union Educators Association (EMUEA) member. “The rigor is really too much for these kids.”

 I'm not gonna lie, things are tough.  With the budget situation in California looking as bleak as ever, Special Education services are being cut.  Many students with special needs are being mainstreamed without the support they need to succeed.  And "despite [teachers'] best efforts, most students with disabilities are flunking algebra."

I mean, how else are they going to be able to learn about the 10-16-18 right triangle?  It's difficult enough for students to grasp the 5-8-9 Pythagorean Triple, though we may be able to do it with limited resources.  But, to use similarity to derive 10-16-18?  No, it takes a fully funded program to pull that off.

Please, Governor Brown, give these people their money.  Otherwise, they're going to have to cancel their biology field trip to the unicorn zoo.